Are you prepared for the end of the tax year?

Read our 10 top tips for managing this important paperwork period stress-free.

The current tax year for 2024/25 will end on 5 April 2025, so there's still plenty of time to get your books in order.

What is the tax year-end, and how does this affect your business? 

The current tax (or financial) year runs until 5 April 2025 and is the period when new government taxation often goes ‘live’ following previous budget announcements.

It’s time to look back and take stock of your previous year’s finances before looking ahead to the upcoming year.

To help you with your year-end review, we’ve put together 10 top tips that will ensure you have covered all bases.

1. Make sure your accounts are up to date 

As well as being a legal necessity, accurate and timely reporting of your balance sheet is crucial to ensure you optimise your year-end accounts.

For example, make sure you have reconciled all your pension contributions, sales invoices, expenses and employee salaries with recorded transactions.  

You should only ever pay dividends from profits earned, so be sure to issue these after corporation tax has been accounted for.  

2. Time is money 

You will notice a theme appearing in this list – time is literally money.

This is because there are penalties for not filing any legally required information, which you will eventually have to pay.  

Think about it all early and decide whether to go solo or hire an expert accountant – but don’t procrastinate and put things off. 

3. Find the right bookkeeper or accountant for your industry 

Every industry has its own nuanced costs, benefits and tax reliefs.

So, employing an accountant who is familiar with, or ideally an expert in, your industry will help you make the best of your year-end review.  

4. Safeguard cash balances 

A higher cash balance will be viewed positively by credit agencies so hold off paying suppliers or invoices until you absolutely have to during the year-end period.

At the same time, ensure all monies owed are gathered and chased up to bolster your available cash.  

5. Process employee bonuses and expenses 

You’ll want to make sure all employee bonuses and expenses are paid before the end of the tax year. Otherwise, you’ll have outstanding payments moving into the next financial year.

This could then affect your profits and dividends for the following year as you’ll have to account for them then, in addition to that year’s bonuses.  

6. Contact existing clients to thank them 

The end of the tax year is the perfect opportunity to contact your existing clients and engage with them.

Give a round-up of business highlights and thank them for their custom. You could also use this as a chance to cross-sell by communicating your specialisms. 

Using electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) will help you organise your contact database and send professional-looking emails.

You can segment your clients, for example, by interest, where the lead came from or countless demographic or geographic conditions.

Automatically insert your clients’ names into email greetings and measure the subsequent click-through rate (CTR) to your website. 

The more personalised the message, the more your clients will feel engaged. 

7. Set budgets for the following financial year 

Depending on how long your business has been operational, you should have enough data to enable you to set budgets for the upcoming financial year.  

Looking at your previous year's balance sheet should allow you to plan for high or low seasons, see how campaigns performed and compare investments against outcomes and objectives.

For example, an ice cream maker may quickly see, when reviewing their previous year’s finances, that the summer months show higher revenue than the colder ones.  

Entertainment brands, for example, might see peaks in sales at weekends, when customers have more time to browse.

They may then choose to increase their advertising budget during these times to maximise exposure. 

8. Review accounting software and GDPR compliance 

If you’re not using an accountant and are attempting to do your year-end accounts yourself, you may wish to review your software and take the opportunity to check your data is still compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

There is software that can automate a large amount of what is required for year-end reporting, pulling the in-goings and outgoings, calculating tax and making the year-end process a less frustrating time. 

GDPR mismanagement can cause unnecessary headaches, so this is the time to check all data is held securely and used only for the purpose that was intended.  

9. Optimise your personal tax allowances 

Tax allowances are there to be used, so make sure you are aware of what is available based on your own personal circumstances.

Maximise your pension contributions and consider any tax relief in terms of capital gains tax and individual savings accounts (ISAs).  

Better still, choose a knowledgeable accountant who will help make sure you optimise your personal tax allowance and prepare correctly for the following year’s accounting. 

10. Don’t miss the deadline! 

It is essential to ensure your year-end figures have been completed on time and are accurate and complete.

Get expert financial advice

With the end of the 2024/25 tax year scheduled for 5 April 2025, there’s ample time to get your financial documents to promote a smooth and seamless tax submission process. 

Ensure you maintain up-to-date accounts and consider enlisting the help of an accountant and financial adviser who can safeguard cash balances, help you take advantage of tax allowances and ensure your submissions are accurate and on time to avoid penalties.

Unbiased will match you with an expert financial adviser or an accountant who can streamline your tax submission process, simplify your filing responsibilities, and ensure you are compliant with UK law.